This was our first clue, and our first Joe, Joe McLaughlin, born in Greenock, Scotland, on the second of June 1960. We usually associate him with wearing a blue Chelsea strip, which he did for most of his career, but here he is at Charlton Athletic, where he had only just turned up when this card was produced, and he only lasted there for a year before moving on to Watford. And in actual fact this is his only cartophilic appearance in those Charlton Athletic club colours, which is why we picked it!
His rookie card appears in Panini`s "Football 81", card 514, which is a double card with a fellow Greenock Morton man, Jim Holmes - though, oddly, the team is listed in the card as simply "MORTON". Double cards are interesting but you only get half the space for text. This one tells us our man is a "Defender. Ht. 6.0. Wt. 11.8. Age 20. Signed to the club direct from youth soccer in 1977, and made his League debut on the centre of the defence against Partick Thistle in August 1979. He held down a regular first team place in the number 5 shirt for the rest of the season"
Just one year later, on card 472 of Panini`s "Football 82" the statement about his team origins is altered, for this text reads "Joe McLaughlin. Defender. Ht. 6.1. Wt. 12.5. Age 21. Joined the club straight from school in 1977 and made his League debut against Partick Thistle in August 1979. Now a regular first teamer who could chalk up his 100th League game this season". This is another double portrait card, this time shared with John McNeil, a fellow Morton Man.
When we look at Panini`s "Football 83", on which he is reunited with Jim Holmes, this backs up the theory that he "joined the club straight from school in 1977". However it seems like they may have just used most of the same text, for only the end paragraph differs, the whole reading "Joe McLaughlin. Defender. Ht. 6.1. Wt. 12.5. Age 22. Joined the club straight from school in 1977 and made his League debut against Partick Thistle in August 1979. A former Under-21 international who could be on the verge of a full cap.".
Another year forward and Panini`s "Football 85" may show him in a Chelsea strip, all on his ownsome, but, as the card even admits, he had actually joined them some time before, for somewhere between £95,000 and £100,000 - reports vary. Despite that, it must be said, the text does not differ that much in parts, though it moves the words around, for it reads : Joe McLaughlin. Defender. Born Greenock. Ht. 6.1. Wt. 12.5. Age 24. Former Scotland Under-21 international who made his League debut for Morton against Partick Thistle in August 1979, having joined the club straight from school in 1977. After 134 League appearances in Scotland he transferred to Chelsea in the summer of 1983, and missed only one match in Chelsea`s promition campaign, appearing in the number five shirt".
And it must be said that the reusing of the text continued with Panini`s "Football 86", though he had aged another year, and dropped half a stone - for that card reads : Joe McLaughlin. Defender. Born Greenock. Ht. 6.1. Wt. 12.0. Age 25. Made his League debut for Morton against Partick Thistle in August 1979 and went on to clock up 134 League games in Scotland before joining Chelsea in the summer of 1983. A former Scottish Under-21 international, he is now the regular number five for Chelsea.".
Thankfully in 1986, we get a slightly different biography, on one version of the Daily Mirror "Stick With It" cards - though the other version is blank backed. It is a strange text though, as it reads "Look-alike for pop star Paul Young. A Scot who has been the strength of the side in defence. Everton bid £600,000 for him at the start of the season, but favourites to get him are Celtic. Chelsea`s price is £650,000". The Everton bid is confirmed on a set issued by Boss Leisure in 1987, it is called "Emlyn Hughes Team Tactix" and it says "Look-alike for pop star Paul Young. Transferred from Morton in 1983. Everton have already bid £600,000 for this Scottish Under-21 cap".
However, Joe McLaughlin played on for Chelsea, longer than for any other team, almost double the games that he had appeared in for Greenock Morton. And he would also appear on more cards in that strip. including later tribute cards, than any other. Then, in 1989 he was sold, to the team on our card, Charlton Athletic, who actually paid the asking price of £650,000, and that, at the time, was the most the team had ever paid out for a player. Yet, after just one season at Charlton, just thirty appearances, they sold him to Watford for £500,000.
He stayed at Watford for two years, then he waved goodbye to England and returned home. His new Scottish home was Falkirk, for four years, though the first season he had an injury that rules him out of all but eight matches. Despite that, they held him fast, and the next year their patience was rewarded, as they won the First Division championship, and the next year almost qualified to play in Europe. Now after some dogged detective work I can confirm that though there is not a word of this on the cards, both the 1994 and 1995 Panini "Scottish Premier League" sticker sets show him at Falkirk, who were sponsored in those years by Beazer Homes.
In 1997 he moved to Clydebank, and in 2000 he ended his career at St Mirren, after just three games and one single goal.